How much to charge for dental leads ?

I own a website which brings leads to local dentists. I'm located in Canada. Now my question is, how much should I charge the dentist per lead/call made by a potential patient.
When I go to the dentist here every 6 months, the final bill easily ends up being between $450-$800 which only includes cleaning and all the very basic stuff. I was thinking about $30 per call they receive. I don't know why I came out with this number, but it was pretty much the first number that came to my mind. What do you guys think ? I'd like to hear some suggestions.

Too much work I think, do you really think the dentist will waste his time calculating percentages from each lead ? I think it's best to just charge per call or in other words, at the end of each month just show him how many calls were made through my number and charge him according to that. Maybe bi-weekly instead?

Not sure about Canada, but in the US dental leads are gold. The lifetime value of a dental patient is in the thousands of $$$. After all, how often do you switch dentists? I would definitely only charge on a per call basis as there is really no way for you to track how much they charged the patient. Based on this type of lead running on some affiliate networks I think $30 per call is reasonable.

Not sure about Canada, but in the US dental leads are gold. The lifetime value of a dental patient is in the thousands of $$$. After all, how often do you switch dentists? I would definitely only charge on a per call basis as there is really no way for you to track how much they charged the patient. Based on this type of lead running on some affiliate networks I think $30 per call is reasonable.

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Thanks for the response Lazlo ! That's exactly what I think about this. Say the dentist charges the patient two grand and claims he only charged him $300, how can I prove he's being fishy? I can't. $30 per call sounds reasonable for me as we'll. Should I use a toll free (1-800) number or a local number for this ?

Thanks for the response Lazlo ! That's exactly what I think about this. Say the dentist charges the patient two grand and claims he only charged him $300, how can I prove he's being fishy? I can't. $30 per call sounds reasonable for me as we'll. Should I use a toll free (1-800) number or a local number for this ?

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I am in Canada as well. I will be charging them a % on the lifetime of the client.
Simply ask the Dentist to record all referred patients separately from the non referred patients. Wont be too difficult.
Add up the revenue from the referred patients at the end of the month and apply a percentage to that say 15%.

I am in Canada as well. I will be charging them a % on the lifetime of the client.
Simply ask the Dentist to record all referred patients separately from the non referred patients. Wont be too difficult.
Add up the revenue from the referred patients at the end of the month and apply a percentage to that say 15%.

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Why would the dentist do that though if he can claim it was a one time $200 appointment instead ?

Man, $30 is fucking dog food. You are getting him gold and you are getting copper...

Get at least $200 from each lead... he will fucking be charging them $600 avg per visit, say they come 12 times a year that's 7200 per client. Calculate a 5-20% from that Year revenue and that is what you should charge.

Man, $30 is fucking dog food. You are getting him gold and you are getting copper...

Get at least $200 from each lead... he will fucking be charging them $600 avg per visit, say they come 12 times a year that's 7200 per client. Calculate a 5-20% from that Year revenue and that is what you should charge.

If you charge $30, sell the fucking leads to me...

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Haha I like your thinking but no one visits the dentist this often. Right now I'm thinking of charging at least $50 per call as making someone actually call a dentist pretty much guarantees an appointment.

Why would the dentist do that though if he can claim it was a one time $200 appointment instead ?

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All dentist's have to take part in strict accounting procedures or they get kicked in the butt by the CRA.
There is no way in hell they can hide a 1k sale for 200.
Simply ask them to show their accounting records. State it clearly on the contract that if I dentist is found "hiding" revenue that you will take legal action.
DONE!
Btw. In one month going to be hitting this niche hard. We may face each other on the SERPS lol.

All dentist's have to take part in strict accounting procedures or they get kicked in the butt by the CRA.
There is no way in hell they can hide a 1k sale for 200.
Simply ask them to show their accounting records. State it clearly on the contract that if I dentist is found "hiding" revenue that you will take legal action.
DONE!
Btw. In one month going to be hitting this niche hard. We may face each other on the SERPS lol.

There is a simple way to do this. Use a virtual phone number and a contact form with a unique e-mail address. Make your agreement with the dentist, and anyone contacting the dentist thru the virtual phone number or the e-mail address are yours, and simply ask how the customer found the business. Your virtual phone service will track each call made to the site, including the number it came from and how long the conversation lasted, so you have some records to use for an audit. Any cheating will show up as a pattern in the audit.

Make clear in the agreement that you can audit the books at any time, and you reserve the right to discontinue supplying leads at any time for any reason. This is necessary because you never know hat might happen. The are wonderful customers and flaming buttheads. Google could de-index your site. Leave your self an out and never promise all your leads to one person.

If you are bringing a professional work, they are not going to mind paying you for your service any more that you would mind paying for ads in a PPC campaign. Its a matter of money in this end, and more money out the other end to them, and its not worth their time to game the system, (the logistics as someone said above will be staggering), unless they are a blithering idiot. Don't do business with blithering idiots.

He is not the only dentist in town, and if he screws you over he should have enough sense to know you will find a new buyer. In fact it is in your best interest to not obligate all your leads to one doc. Spread them around and see what the market will bear.

Make whatever deal you want with doctor one, and send him leads. Approach Doctor two, and offer the leads at a 10 to 25% higher rate. If he bites, offer Dr. three a higher rate still. At some point you will hit a fair market value ceiling. You will now be able to get maximum revenue for your product. And you don't lose the customers you already have.

Expect to make a much smaller percentage if you get a deal for subsequent recurring commissions, and a much higher rate for one time payouts.

Flat rate brings you money for every lead, making it easier to track and manage. Selling by percentage makes you far more money.

Doing both is a real winner, drop your per lead fee down to 75% of market value and ask for 3 to 5% of all work generated for the lifetime of the customer. For some reason people dismiss percentages below 5%, as if they do not add up.

This way, you get immediate cash flow and develop a long term revenue stream.

In the beginning, if you are selling these leads at a flat rate, at least go to service magic or similar sites and pose as a business owner and find out how much you have to pay for the exact same lead in your area.

If your price per lead is lower than that, you are competitive. If it is markedly lower than that, you are leaving money on the table.

I expect dentists are high, in Houston a tree removal person pays $38 and their value per customer is a thousand or two on a one time basis with about a 20 percent conversion rate of calls to customers. (Just talking to a owner yesterday and this came up)

Ask him.....Mr Dr, out of how many calls/leads you get a paying customer? Or If you get 10 calls, how many of those calls will typically become paying patients?

He say's, well maybe 2 leads out of 10 or 20% will become paying clients.

Ok Mr Dr, now how much is the average bill for a typical patient in one year? ....About $1000.

Ok, so for every 10 calls you get, you will usually covert 20% to paying clients which will bring you $2000 in revenue, right? ..Yes.

Ok, so if I send you 20 calls per month, based on your numbers you will be able to translate those leads to 4 new clients bringing $1000x4=$4000 of total revenue, correct? ....yes.

OK, so I will send you 20 calls per month at a cost of only $25 each for a total of only $500 per month which you will be able to bring in $4000 in revenue, does that sound like a good deal or what?.......................Sign me up.

Play with the numbers.
Charge per call, not conversions....no need to look at their accounting numbers, which will be a deal breaker for many.

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